It was the best of times, it was the worse of times

The day Daniel wore this wig to school for Crazy Hair Day

he declared: "This is the best day of my life." Later that

afternoon the day became "the worst day of my life" due to

par for the course squabbling with his brother.

Other Danielisms:

• When I said "It's 47 degrees, a little cool." Daniel said, "I don't care. I'm a man." A man indeed.
• Vocabulary questions from Daniel who is 7! "What is pedestrian?," "What does altruistic mean?," and "What does empathetic mean?" These were asked in rapid fire fashion while walking into his swim lesson. I tell Doug they are all smarter than we were but came to find out Doug used to get straight As before he became interested in other things. . .
• "Matt, you entertain yourself for a minute," Daniel said in the nicest way possible while involved in an activity with his brother Matthew.
• "My feet feel so good after a good night's sleep."
• "I tell people I'm Wilfork," said Daniel while puffing out his stomach. Vince Wilfork is the sumo wrestler substitute who plays on the line for the Patriots.
• "How come I'm the only one who doesn't have a cell phone?" Daniel asked. "Because you're 7," I answer.
• "Where did he hear that?" wondered Doug and Michael in response to several of the quotations above.

Unrelated thoughts

-I don't know why but lately I've been noticing bad dye jobs. You know the type where the roots are growing out and the darker hair looks like someone poured furniture polish on that head.

-"Michael's room smells like a teenage boy." This was uttered by the woman who cleans our house. She must be smelling some mixture of hormones and B.O.

-In discussing liquid diets at my tennis group one woman declared, "I like food." I agreed and remarked, "Yes, I've been eating food my whole life."

Next time: I will recount a romantic dream I had.

Aging is growing in reverse

I had a conversation with my mother last night that went something like this:

'Aging is depressing. And you realize: I'll never play tennis again. I'll never play golf again. I look in the paper and see someone who just died at 82. Does that mean I might just have two more years left?'

"You might," I added helpfully.

She continued:

'I told Debbie (her sister) that I want to make it to 90.'

So she's not ready to go just yet. It's like she competing to make it to 90. I told her thoughts are powerful and if she wants to make it to 90 she probably will.

BUT, she is lonely and says so. The only people she sees on a regular basis are the helpers who come in and help my Dad. I guess he was recently floored by the $3,700 monthly bill for his helpers. That help don't come cheap but at least it's some company for Mom. She and her one friend Marilyn have been trying to have their birthday lunch for a few weeks now and there is still no date set.

What's the upshot? At age 80, she wants to leave a gorgeous house they moved into and away from us 5 years ago, to move back to be near us. Does any of this make sense? No.

The lesson: Don't move away from familyand friends to a strange place when you are 75 years old.

Unrelated thoughts

• With Daniel harassing me about voting for a neigghbor, asking me who I was voting for and objecting to my use of the handicapped booth - I forgot who I voted for in one instance, missed voting for a school committee member that I wanted to vote for, and I completely missed all the referenda questions on the back of the ballot. So much for the civics lesson - I ain't bringing him to the polls again.
• "I feel sorry for the moon because he has to work all day and doesn't get a rest." Daniel McGovern 10/20/10
• When I read an article in the paper suggesting limiting children to 3 pieces of candy per day - I read this outloud. Michael promptly reminded me "You don't have to believe everything you see in the paper."
• "Misery is optional" - uttered by a very wise friend.
• "You are not going to freak out on me" - uttered by a mother to a young girl in the dentist waiting room. Her reply: "No, I am just bored and tired."
• Some of the campaign slogans are hilarious. What would your slogan be if you only had 3-4 words? Because I care. Thinking ahead. I'm honest. Vote for me. Why not?
• Is it just me or are the greeters at Walmart annoying?
• "I just love the word Nevada." Daniel McGovern 10/30/10
• One morning Daniel told me I had something red on my PJs. Without even looking I immediately know what it is and deflect his comment with some hemming and hawing. As Daniel ponders and thinks, he says "I know, it is probably some candy." You see we've just had Halloween and given out bright red Twizlers but the truth is I was having my period . .
• This reminds me of a story a couple of years ago when I was taking into a public restroom on a trip. I was having my period then too. Even though I had explained to Daniel what the menstrual cycle was and why there was blood etc. he said in a very loud voice in this public restroom "Mom - what is that rash?"
• Interesting to note that few days after Halloween Michael offered up his candy to anyone who wanted it. When I suggested he limit himself to a couple pieces a day - he couldn't even do that. "I am sick of candy. Do you two want some?" This is a first in the history of my universe.